The woman involved in the viral confrontation with a group of Italian students on a Bangkok BTS train has filed a police complaint, saying she hopes they will apologise to the Thai public rather than to her personally.
The complaint follows a confrontation that was filmed by a Thai passenger and shared on TikTok on July 23. The dispute began after the passenger confronted a group of foreign tourists over speaking loudly on the train, which escalated into a heated verbal exchange seen in the video.
Sugus, the 25 year old Thai woman at the centre of the incident, met investigators at Samre Police Station yesterday, July 25. After nearly five hours of questioning, she recounted the confrontation that unfolded during her journey home.
On the day of the incident, Sugus said she had finished work and boarded a BTS train at Siam station, intending to travel home.
According to her account, a group of 48 Italian students boarded the train at Sala Daeng station and continued talking loudly as the train travelled towards Chong Nonsi station. She said she asked the group in English to lower their voices.
She alleged that members of the group responded with rude remarks in Italian, made offensive gestures, sexually harassed her and directed racist comments towards Asian people, despite her speaking politely.
Sugus also claimed that an adult supervising the students failed to intervene. Instead, she alleged the supervisor defended the group’s behaviour by saying that there were too many students for them to keep their voices down and apologised for “bringing money to your country.”
She said the group left the train at Thon Buri station but continued making offensive gestures as the train pulled away.
No other passengers intervened, leaving her to face the confrontation alone. The experience, she said, left her questioning whether she had been wrong to ask the group to lower their voices.
Khaosod reported that police are gathering evidence to determine what charges, if any, may be brought against members of the group.
Sugus said she wanted the case to serve as a reminder that visitors should respect the rights and customs of the country they are visiting.
Following the video’s circulation on social media, internet users began trying to identify the students involved and called for an apology. Sugus said she believed any apology should be directed to Thailand and the Thai people as a whole rather than to her personally.
“I want a more sincere apology. If they had respected other people’s rights, they would not have behaved that way.”
She also thanked everyone who had offered support following the incident but urged people not to respond with violence, saying any retaliation would damage the reputation of both Thai people and Thailand.
Following the incident, the Embassy of Italy issued a statement in Italian, English and Thai expressing regret over what had happened and stating that it strongly condemned the group’s conduct.
The story Thai woman in viral clash with Italian students files police complaint as seen on Thaiger News.
